(Ipecac/Shock)

Post-metal progenitors continue to stay ahead of the game

Isis are a band that will always have reviewers pulling their hair out trying to articulate their essence. They are a band for which meaningless pseudo-categories like post-metal were invented to describe. As much as the band’s fifth full-length Wavering Radiant is an excellent album, it’s a massive pain in the arse to try and write about. It’s post-Neurosis avant-garde metal, with the obligatory head nods to doom, post-hardcore, prog and sludge. In this regard, Wavering Radiant is definitively an Isis record. At the same time however, it sees the band reach even a greater depth of song construction – tracks like Ghost Key and Threshold Of Transformation are layered to the point of disbelief. Bryant Clifford Meyer’s keys and electronics seep into the diminutive passageways and keep the listener engaged in the songs. Toning down the doom influences that dominated 2006’s In The Absence Of Truth, Wavering Radiant sees Isis embrace a slighter dynamic. Tracks like opener Hall Of The Dead have more than a few Jesu-esque moments and Aaron Turner’s singing voice gets much more time on the record than before. Restraint is also what makes drummer Aaron Harris’ performance on the record so outstanding, as the album progresses you can almost feel the dude wanting to cut loose, by the time Stone To Wake A Serpent comes about the tension is near unbearable. With the added boost of Joe (Queens Of The Stone Age, Melvins, Kyuss, Tool) Barresi’s production, Wavering Radiant succeeds as a vibrant soundscape that challenges listeners, but also rewards them.

***½

TOM HERSEY